➤ Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, the review of the worthy heir to Jet Set Radio 🕹

Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, a platform based on skateboarding and graffiti, is appreciated for its aesthetics and level design, despite some small flaws: the review.

Bomb Rush Cyberfunk thrives on a deep and inherent paradox. Spiritual sequel to that Jet Set Radio that even before being an excellent video game took the form of an aesthetic and political manifesto of a young generation, the Japanese generation of the early XNUMXs, crushed and suffocated by institutions unwilling to listen to their dissidence and discomfort. . , the game developed by the guys from Reptile team It is almost an anachronistic and exotic creature.

In its desire to be a tribute in a contemporary key, the game voluntarily takes a path with retro overtones, giving us an adventure, because that is what it is about, obsolete, eccentric, even antiquated in some aspects.

Thus, while the youngest player will have the opportunity to get hold of an atypical and sui generis production, the oldest will feel at home for a few seconds, in the now lost adolescence, composed of often extravagant clothes, slang neologisms and subcultures. . that have disappeared since time. Bomb Rush Cyberfunk tries by all means, even before entertaining the user, to return them to an era that no longer exists.

Anachronistic, strange, elegant in an almost impalpable way, Team Reptile's platformer is a title that, despite some underlying problems, will not fail to fascinate a very specific niche of enthusiasts and in this Bomb Rush Cyberfunk Review We explain how we do it.

Gang battles and existentialism

Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, the review of the worthy heir to Jet Set Radio — Betrayals, identity crises and philosophical questions. Who would have expected so much depth in the plot of Bomb Rush Cyberfunk?

Although the trailers and images may make you think otherwise, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is not some kind of Tony Hawk set in the future. Performing tricks and accumulating points are essential actions to reach the final credits, but the genre closest to the game is platform. Three-dimensional platformers with a touch of narrative in the middle, to be more precise.

New Amsterdam It is the kingdom of breakers, DJs and obviously writers, all committed to conquering the cultural and aesthetic dominance of this city where style seems to be everything or almost everything. Organized in groups, the gangs that go to the neighborhoods extend their dominance with tricks on every walkable surface and by capturing their art on walls, public transportation and billboards through graffiti of all shapes and sizes.

It seems like the premise of the classic game, all style and few questions, but Bomb Rush Cyberfunk delivers the first surprise just a few minutes into the prologue. Faux, an unparalleled talent with a spray can in his hand, destined to dominate New Amsterdam for years to come, during his escape from the prison where he was being held, is tragically decapitated by a vinyl thrown by his former gang mate. It is an absolutely surprising and chilling sequence because of how it is shot and it immediately makes clear to what extent the narrative sector It is nothing secondary to the game's economy.

While it doesn't provide too many details about the game world, in this future all flashy outfits and gang battles, the plot is intriguing enough to take the user through. dozens of hours It is necessary to find out the reasons for such betrayal.

Red, an android who inherited Faux's body, determined to get his head back, also part of an ill-defined self, becomes involved in a story that goes beyond a simple neighborhood battle. Although the tones are always sweetened and diluted with slogans so beloved by certain figures of Hip Hop culture of the 90s, from time to time you will experience authentic hallucinations that investigate and persist. philosophical questions of an unexpected depth given the caliber of the title.

Although most of the time you attend trick competitions with predictable results and an ironic but never too brilliant script, from time to time you will be spectators of short sequences with particularly inspired existentialist overtones.

However, the plot certainly won't be the reason you remember Bomb Rush Cyberfunk in the coming months. Artistic design and sound. They will catapult you into a vibrant and very elegant experience. The low poly cel shave refers directly to the era of Crazy Taxy, Radical Bikers, and Jet Set Radio itself. Naturally, the graphic sector must be interpreted, especially in the face of certain scenarios that are really too poor in details, but it is inevitable to be enchanted by deliberately inexpressive polygonal models, non-rounded shapes, acidic and bright colors. that paint a New Amsterdam that could be defined, more than cyberpunk, shibuya-punk.

The soundtrack, for its part, is curated by Hideki Naganuma, composer of the soundtrack of the Jet Set Radio saga. The result? You will play Bomb Rush Cyberfunk with the Shazam application constantly open, to know the title of the songs that will accompany your tricks and exploration of New Amsterdam. Between rap, electronic, funk, nu jazz and low-fi songs, the soundtrack will captivate you with the ability with which it will effectively project you into a future made of recognizable sounds, but at the same time futuristic and original.

Grind, graffiti and police

In short, if on an artistic level we are faced with a small masterpiece, which due to the chosen style may not satisfy all palates, from a gaming point of view Bomb Rush Cyberfunk shows its side to some. a little more doubt, although it is still largely fun and entertaining.

As mentioned above, the game is a platform game in every sense, divided into very different areas, although you can reach each area through a kind of hub where you can change the controllable character and customize it with a cosmetic element collected during the adventure.

In each area, the objective will always be beat the rival gang. To do this you will have to always perform the same type of actions, more or less always in the same order. On the one hand, to start you will have to explore each environment to find the labels of your rivals and thus cover them with your art. If most of them are easily identifiable, most of the time you will have to work hard to understand how to get to them, looking for surfaces on which to perform grinds or tricks that allow you, also thanks to the momentum and the double jump that can be activated in any time, to reach your destination.

Secondly, it will be complete some small missions, talking with the characters that populate the city. Recording a certain number of points within a pre-established time, performing a particular trick, repeating a sequence of very specific movements, these are the type of tasks that will be entrusted to you. In these phases you will realize that Bomb Rush Cyberfunk has no interest in following the tradition of the different Tony Hawks. The combos are relatively few; the controls are simple; The manual ones, very useful for not interrupting the flow of tricks, are practically automatic. In short, the challenge is not so much in the insertion of inputs, but in He knows the scene almost by heart., so you can grind almost without interruptions both to increase your score and to get collectible items or complete the missions in which you can participate.

On paper everything works very well, also thanks to a level design It's certainly not brilliant, but it's effective enough to make scenario exploration and analysis stimulating. Unfortunately, there is one thing that negatively influences the experience. a couple of quite penalizing factors. The first is related to the control system, which suffers from a certain inertia. When jumping, especially, you have the feeling of never having full control of the situation and it is not uncommon not to be able to perform a trick also due to a camera that does not always cooperate. Fortunately, in this sense experience helps, in addition to the fact that between checkpoints and the possibility of repeating missions until they are completed, the game never penalizes the user excessively.

The other defect of the game is the fighting phases. The police will, from time to time, try to hunt down Red and his companions. Although most of the time you can ignore them, you may have to face them. Beyond the absence of a real combat system, simply pressing the same button to chain the same sequence of attacks, these combats leave a bad taste in the mouth due to the terrible feedback of the blows inflicted and suffered, as well as a A.I. Virtually absent of enemies. A couple of boss battles are saved, in which the chain of tricks is mixed with the mechanics necessary to hit the bully on duty.

Conclusions

Tested version Xbox Series X digital delivery Steam, playstation store, Xbox Store, Nintendo eShop Price 39.99 € Holygamerz.com 7.5 Readers (6) 8.7 your vote

Bomb Rush Cyberpunk is a brilliant platform game based on skateboarding and wall graffiti. Artistically, this is a game that has little to envy of Jet Set Radio. Visually we can only complain about some overly simple settings, but otherwise this vision of the future is as fascinating as expected. Furthermore, the soundtrack is simply off scale, the result of a very perfect mix of songs, which will force you to activate Shazam again and again to discover the titles. On the playable side, unfortunately, not everything works perfectly. If the level design offers environments in which it is possible to move without practically touching the ground, for the benefit of exploration and those who love to obtain respectable scores, there are a couple of things that do not work as they should. The fighting is without a doubt the worst part of the game. The control system is not free from failures. However, despite not having a perfect title, those who have been waiting for years for a spiritual sequel to Jet Set Radio will find what they are looking for. Even the youngest players, for their part, if they are looking for a title different from the usual, characterized by a tremendously original artistic sector, will be satisfied.